The present invention relates to illumination of the site of the operation of knitting or crocheting.
Knitting and crocheting are old tasks that have largely been taken over by mechanized production. However, many individuals take care and pride in personally knitting and crocheting pieces by hand. These practices, although centuries old, have consistently been accompanied by the same complaint, a lack of good working light. A person working the long hours required to make substantial progress on a knitting or crocheting project typically requires somewhat better lighting than that required for viewing flat surfaces such as in reading text. A knitter's hands are constantly moving and twisting to pull yarn, move knitting needles, check finished rows for dropped stitches or improper tension, and many other small but critical jobs. As such, a person knitting or crocheting requires light from several directions to adequately illuminate the work field.
Consider the tools of the craft. The crochet hook has a notch at one end for catching loops of yarn and drawing them through stitches. Aluminum, plastic and wood crochet hooks are the most commonly used, and often use the letter system for size marking. They range in diameter from B (2.25 mm) to S (19 mm), the largest, and come in 6″ lengths. Straight knitting needles, which come in aluminum, plastic or wood, are the most commonly used. They come in varying diameter sizes, from 0 (2 mm), the smallest, to size 15 (10 mm) and larger; they are sold in pairs, and come in 10″ or 14″ lengths. There is a point at one end of the needle, and a knob at the other, which prevents stitches from slipping off. For large projects like afghans, or sweaters that can be worked in a tube without a seam, circular knitting needles can be used. These are long flexible needles with points at both ends.
Some efforts have been made to provide lighting closely associated with knitting needles. U.S. Pat. No. 2,344,370 describes a knitting needle with a plastic core and a metal sheath leaving ends of the knitting needle exposed. An enclosure is applied to the end distal to the tip so that a light bulb is directed to the top of the plastic core. Light is conducted through the plastic core to provide a low level glow from the exposed tip. The level of illumination is extremely limited and a user is required to keep the end of the device plugged in to an electrical outlet.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,522 describes a crochet hook inserted at its straight end into a handle assembly where illumination shines along the exposed shaft of the crochet hook. Unfortunately, this device is without beneficial effect as soon as a user grasps the exposed shaft and blocks the light. Such an action is taken often in knitting and crocheting to adjust the current row of stitches.
There is a need for a device that provides adequate lighting for a person performing hand knitting or crocheting that is closely associated with the knitting needles or crochet hooks.